Former Doors drummer wins lawsuit

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The former drummer for The Doors won a permanent injunction
today preventing his bandmates from using the rock group's name
while touring with a revamped version of the legendary 1960s
act.

The Los Angeles Superior Court order also requires keyboardist
Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger, who have been touring as
The Doors of the 21st Century, to turn over all the profits earned
by the new combo to the original Doors partnership.

The decision represents a major victory for Doors drummer John
Densmore, who told Reuters he was concerned that the band's legacy
was being tarnished by its reincarnation as an oldies act.

Manzarek and Krieger, along with British singer Ian Astbury
subbing for the late Jim Morrison, are touring Canada as headliners
of the Strange Days festival, which also features such bands as
Steppenwolf, the Yardbirds and Vanilla Fudge.

"They're playing Doors songs and calling themselves the Doors of
the 21st Century. I kinda think it's the 19th century, it's looking
back," said Densmore, who plays original music with his own band
Tribal Jazz.

He teamed up with Morrison's estate - represented by the parents
of both Morrison and Morrison's late wife, Pamela Courson - to sue
Krieger and Manzarek in early 2003.

Under an agreement struck in 1971, the year Morrison died in
Paris, all three surviving members as well as the Morrison estate
must sign off on any use of the Doors name and logo.

"I'm very pleased that, in my opinion, the legacy is preserved,"
added Densmore. "I never intended for Ray and Robby to stop playing
- they're great musicians. I hope Doors fans keep going to see them
- it's just the name is owned by me and them and the estate of Jim
Morrison, and they kinda ran off with stolen property."

Densmore estimated that Manzarek and Krieger have earned
"millions and millions of dollars" on the road in recent years,
more than the original band ever made.

The Doors rose to fame in the late 1960s with such songs as
Light My Fire and Touch Me. After Morrison, their
provocative frontman and self-styled "lizard king", died of a heart
attack, the band eventually folded.

Its mythology exploded with the 1980 publication of the Doors
biography No One Here Gets Out Alive and then with Oliver
Stone's 1991 movie The Doors. The band was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, with the three members
reuniting for a few songs behind Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder.

A management representative for Krieger and Manzarek in Los
Angeles did not return a call.